A Thousand Words
by Akatsuki210
Summary: Some things never change, like the adoration of children for their big brothers. One shot, SasuSaku, written for the Cotton Candy Bingo challenge.


**Disclaimer: **I don't own _Naruto_ or any of its characters.

**Warnings:** No spoilers in the story itself, but there are spoilers for the manga in the Author's Note at the end.

**Note:** Written for the Cotton Candy Bingo challenge, prompt "pictures."

* * *

**A Thousand Words**

_Click._

Sasuke pressed the silver button and a bright flash of light emanated from the camera. It whirred for a few seconds, then a blurry white-bordered square popped out of the slot in the bottom.

Sasuke clutched the photo, staring at it as the blobs it depicted resolved into a sturdy oak tree with his brother standing on one of the branches. He was upside-down, and there was a leaf stuck in his ponytail.

Itachi smiled down at Sasuke. "Did the picture come out well?"

Sasuke nodded vigorously. He pulled a pencil out of his pocket and laboriously printed the words "Nii-san climbing a tree" on the back.

Mikoto had bought Sasuke the camera for his birthday, and he'd been using it almost non-stop ever since. Nearly all the pictures were of Itachi. There was "Nii-san's Academy graduation", "Nii-san training with shuriken", and "Nii-san sleeping" ("Okay, that one's actually kinda creepy," Shisui had said of this last one).

Sasuke took the newest picture and ran to the living room, where the rest of the photos were stacked up on one corner of a low table. He added "Nii-san clamibing a tree" to the pile...and the whole bunch cascaded down onto the floor like a waterfall. Pictures of Itachi scattered across the room.

"Ah!" Sasuke began to collect his treasures, but stopped when he heard a soft chuckle from the doorway. Mikoto stood there, a laundry basket balanced on one hip.

"You really need some way to organize all those," she told him. Setting the laundry basket down, she walked over to the big cabinet that stood along one wall, being careful not to step on any of the pictures. On the top shelf of the cabinet were a row of large folders that Sasuke recognized as the family photo albums. Mikoto selected one at the end of the row and pulled it down. "Here, what about this?"

The album was bound in a leathery material, and like most of the things they owned, it was dark blue with the clan emblem embossed on the front. Opening it up, Sasuke saw that the pages were all blank: no one had put any photos in yet. A wide grin split his face. "This is great! Thanks, kaa-san!" Plopping himself down in the middle of the floor, he quickly became engrossed in sliding all his pictures into the little sleeves of the pages.

* * *

_Click._

Tsubaki pressed the silver button and a bright flash of light emanated from the camera. It beeped, and a multicolored square popped out of the slot in the bottom.

Tsubaki clutched the photo, looking over the top of it to where her brother was standing on the surface of the Nakano.

He grinned at her. "Did the picture come out well?"

Tsubaki nodded vigorously. She pulled a pencil out of her pocket and laboriously printed the words "Nii-san water-walking" on the back. Then she turned and sprinted back toward the house.

Sakura was sitting at the kitchen table, looking over the blueprints for the new wing of the hospital. She glanced up when Tsubaki came barrelling in. The girl skidded to a stop just in time to avoid knocking over a chair. "Is that a new picture?" Sakura asked. She had bought Tsubaki the camera for her birthday, and she'd been using it almost non-stop ever since.

"Yep!" Tsubaki proudly held up the picture.

"Very nice! You know, we really should get you an album to put all these pictures in."

"I've got one she could use," came a voice from the doorway. Sasuke and Naruto stood there, side by side, both wearing their robes and hats. It was Sasuke who had spoken, and he led Tsubaki down the hall while Naruto looked over Sakura's shoulder at the blueprints. He pulled open the door to a closet and peered at the dusty stack of books and folders on the top shelf. "Let's see, I think it was in here somewhere..."

Sasuke reached for a blue book wedged behind his and Sakura's wedding album. Pulling it free dislodged several other books, and they all tumbled out of the closet. One of them bounced off Sasuke's head before landing on the floor.

"Ha!" Naruto yelled from the kitchen. "And you keep calling _me_ clumsy!"

"Idiot," Sasuke muttered under his breath. Tsubaki giggled.

"Here," Sasuke said, brushing dust off the shoulders of his robes. "I think this is only about half-full; there should be plenty of room for your pictures."

Tsubaki took the album from her father, running her fingers over the clan symbol embossed on the front. She opened it, flipping through the pages until she came to one that had open spaces. After glancing at the last picture ("Nii-san joins ANBU!"), she slid her own into place next to it.

* * *

**A/N:** I picked Tsubaki for the SasuSaku daughter's name because it's a flower name, like Sakura. You have three guesses for what I imagine her brother's name to be, and the first two don't count.

I describe Sasuke and Naruto as both wearing the Hokage outfit because of a particular fan-theory I like: that Naruto and Sasuke will become co-Hokages. Everything went wrong the first time around when Hashirama was chosen as Hokage over Madara: not only because it represented the village putting their trust in Hashi over Madara, but because it suddenly put them on unequal footing, which impaired her friendship (because you can never really be just friends with your boss). So some people have speculated that, both as a way of contrasting with that situation, and to preserve Naruto and Sasuke's friendship, the series will end with _both_ of them leading the village.


End file.
